I agree with Tim that this thread is getting hard to ignore.  Re. Norm's
point that both "a" and "the" are correct grammatically, yes, surely they
are.  But as for the previous argument (sorry, I've lost the poster's
name) that "a" was used for emphasis, the explanation was not precise
enough and not literary enough.  The "a" is used, in the passage quoted,
to elicit pathos:  Robin Hood has many more arrows but one last arrow --
"a final arrow" -- is all that he can manage.  From the literary
standpoint, "the" fails to capture the nuance desired in this instance.
 
Sorry if I've belabored the obvious.
 
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Paul T. Wilson                       (616) 387-3494
Assoc Prof of Reading               [log in to unmask]
Western Michigan University     or [log in to unmask]
 
                Once I thought I was wrong,
                    But I was mistaken.
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